City delays Juniper Ridge rezoning effort

The Bend City Council on Wednesday delayed a first reading on a proposed ordinance to rezone 20 acres of Juniper Ridge to light industrial, the first step in a process to allow Les Schwab Tires to build a new headquarters building at Juniper Ridge. Construction of the headquarters is scheduled to begin by the end of this year. It will be the first building to go up at Juniper Ridge, the city owned parcel in northeast Bend. The sticking point was opposition from attorneys representing Wal Mart and the mall that houses Target, Sportsman’s Warehouse and other stores, who told the council the city hasn’t adequately identified how to mitigate the impact of increased traffic at the intersection of Cooley and Robal roads and Highway 97. The city believes it does have evidence to support its position, but councilors voted to keep the written record open for 14 days to allow opponents and the applicant – in this case, the city – time to submit additional pro and con documentation. The city has proposed some short-term proposals to address traffic concerns in the Cooley-Robal roads and Highway 97 area, but all public and private parties involved in development there agree it is crucial that a long-term solution to traffic congestion be developed.

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Thirteen file for Bend City Council

An unexpectedly large number of people have filed applications for the unexpired term of Bend City Council John Hummel, who resigned on March 1. The 13 applicants who submitted resumes by March 21 are: Bridget Fawn Burns, Clint Chick, Rockland Dunn, Jeff Eager, Kathie Eckman, Frank Fiedler, Peter Gramlich, Nathan Hovekamp, Randy Johnson, Don Leonard, Mike Lovely, Gordon Phillips and Tom Ware. Because of the number off applicants, councilors will not personally interview every candidate like they had planned to. Instead, they’ll hold a special meeting at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28 in council chambers to narrow the list of potential candidates to be interviewed. Mayor Bruce Abernethy requested that each council member bring his or her top five choices to the meeting, and councilors on March 30 plan to interview finalists. All meetings are open to the public. Whomever is chosen to fill Hummel’s position will serve until Dec. 31, 2008.

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Statewide traffic study a sobering document for Oregon business

On Tuesday, the Oregon Business Council and the Portland Business Alliance released a new study titled “The Cost of Highway Limitations and Traffic Delays to Oregon’s Economy.” The study, which interviewed businesses throughout the state, paints a sobering picture of what will happen to businesses in the coming years if Oregon does not fix its rapidly deteriorating road system. The study was the first ever to examine the real costs of highway limitations to the state’s economy. It said if significant improvements aren’t made, by the year 2025, the state’s economy will lose $1.7 billion in annual revenue, Oregon will lose 16,000 jobs from companies that will move to other states with better transportation systems and one million hours of vehicle delays will occur every weekday in the state. The action item from this study is to try to get legislation passed this session to raise $300 million to $350 million each year to improve Oregon’s highways. All companies interviewed have had to make adjustments for transportation congestion and heavy road use. For example, until five years ago Les Schwab drivers based in Prineville could pick up deliveries from the Port of Portland and return to Prineville the same day. Now, congestion in Portland has forced the company to have drivers stay overnight in Portland before returning to Prineville. Watch for more on this important topic in future newsletters and the

Chamber Business Journal.

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Deschutes County growth may be slowing, but not dramatically

According to U.S. Census estimates released today, Deschutes County was the 60^th fastest-growing county in the nation between 2000 and 2006, and the fastest-growing county in Oregon during the same period. The Census estimated that Deschutes County grew to 149,140 people on July 1, 2006, up 33,773 from 115,367 on April 1, 2000. That’s a gain of 29.3 percent in just under six years. The fastest-growing county in the nation by percentage was Lee County, Georgia, which grew 31.3 percent in six years (it now has 32,495 people); the fastest-growing county in the U.S. by population numbers was Maricopa County in Arizona, home to Phoenix, which gained 695,784 residents and now has a population of 3.77 million.

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Redmond airport gets lots of use

Last week’s survey question was, “How often do you use the Redmond or Bend airports?” Redmond obviously gets more use than Bend, but Bend is being used. Some comments:

“I use the Redmond airport at least once a month for an out-of-state trip, sometimes direct to Salt Lake City, which is very handy. Sometimes twice a month. It was a nightmare when every month I was parking in a difference place, especially in the dark, as I was taking early flights, so I’m very glad things are stable. I am very proud of our airport. It is fun to pick up big-city people flying in here for the first time.”

“I use the Redmond airport on occasion, and I sincerely hope there are no plans to make the Bend airport big. That is all we need, a bunch of planes flying overhead. I left Portland for several reasons, but a big noisy airport was definitely one of them.”

“Being a private pilot, I’m at the Bend airport all the time. The improvements they’ve made are great, and I look forward to the runway improvements.”

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